Happy Mother's Day
by SabreDae
Summary: Tumblr inspired story. It's Mother's Day and there are some surprises in store for Snow, Emma and Regina. Now with an added epilogue. Also features Henry, Graham and James.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I didn't really plan on writing this, but I saw a really cute Gremma AU on Tumblr and thought, well it is Mother's Day in America and then I just had the idea and couldn't concentrate on the Harry Potter chapter I was trying to write, so I thought it would be better to write this and get it out of my head. I hope you guys will like it. Let me know what you think. **

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own anything.**

* * *

Emma turned around just before the front door to inspect the scene, smiled to herself, satisfied, and left for work before anyone could stop her.

It was another ten minutes before Snow opened the bedroom door and paused, taking note of the flowers sat in a vase in the centre of the table along with the fresh glass of orange juice and the still warm waffles waiting for her.

"James…" she murmured, walking out into the kitchen. Her husband followed her out, looking up from doing up the buttons on his shirt at the sound of her voice.

"Wow, this is a nice set up. I wonder who did it," he said, searching the table for a card or note of some sort.

Snow smiled at the waffles and the fact that one of the kitchen counters already had a mug filled with cocoa mix sat atop it, just waiting for the kettle to be boiled and the water to be added. "I think it was Emma," she practically hummed, bursting with happiness.

"But why's there no card?" James asked.

"Honey, this is Emma we're talking about. I doubt she'd want anyone to know it was her."

"Guess you're right," he replied. "Why don't you sit down and dig in, don't want to let all this good food go to waste, and I'll sort out that hot cocoa she's left for you?"

"Thanks," Snow nodded, pulling out a chair and sitting down in it, still staring at the spread Emma had organised for her. Frankly, she was a little surprised that Emma had managed the waffles. In all the time they'd lived together, Emma had shown no affinity for the culinary arts. Snow and James did all the cooking in the apartment.

James kissed the top of Snow's head as he set down the steaming cocoa and pilfered a waffle from her plate.

"Pity Emma didn't do a plate for me too," he mumbled around his mouthful.

"Just wait your turn," Snow told him, taking a sip of the orange juice, the freshly squeezed stuff full of zing and hitting her taste buds in all the right places. She thought it was very thoughtful of Emma to put ice cubes in the glass to make sure the juice stayed cold for her.

"You think I should ask her later if I get this kind of treatment for Father's Day?"

Snow shrugged. "But what if you put her off?"

"I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed then, won't I?" he grinned. "Right, I'm off to work. Just because we're related doesn't mean Emma won't bust me for being late." After grabbing his jacket off the hook near the front door, he crossed back to the table and gave Snow a long kiss. "Happy Mother's Day, by the way."

* * *

"Sshhh," Graham chided Henry gently. "We've got to be quiet remember. Your mother will be here any minute."

Henry nodded, pressing his lips together to stop another laugh bubbling out. "Do you think she'll like it?"

"I'm sure she'll love it, Henry," Graham replied, smiling at his stepson. They both fell silent as the jingling of keys signalled Emma's arrival. Outside Emma slid her keys into the lock, frowning as the door moved from just the slightest touch.

"Funny," she mumbled to herself. "Why isn't the door locked?"

Removing her keys, she cautiously entered.

"Hello? Anybody here? Graham?"

Nobody answered, and just as she was calming her nerves and assuring herself that Graham must have just forgotten to lock up when he was working the night shift the night before, Henry leapt up from behind one of the desks and yelled, "Happy Mother's Day!"

Emma couldn't stop the strangled scream that flew from her lips in fright. Her hand hovered above her pounding heart as she laughed.

"Thanks, Henry," she told him, accepting the decorated chocolate cake he was holding out to her.

"It's chocolate and vanilla and I made it myself – well, Graham helped," he added, nodding down at Graham who slowly stood up and smiled sheepishly at Emma. "Do you like it?"

"I love it, Henry," Emma assured him, pulling her son into a one armed hug.

Henry beamed.

"What did I tell you?" Graham asked. "Now, come on, I believe you told me we had some more deliveries to make. Why don't we let your Mom get on? That way she can be home sooner." Graham kissed Emma's cheek and steered Henry towards the door.

"Bye Mom," Henry called, twisting to wave.

"See you late, Kid," Emma smiled back.

* * *

Graham waited in the car as Henry skipped up the pathway to Regina's house and pushed open the front door. Although Regina had certainly changed, he had no desire to spend any more time with her than was necessary.

"Henry? Is that you?" Regina called from upstairs after hearing the door open.

"Yeah!" he yelled back, rushing up the stairs. "Happy Mother's Day," he told her breathlessly from her bedroom doorway. "I made you a card. Here." He thrust a decorated and folded piece of card into his mother's hands.

"Thank you, Henry," Regina murmured, flipping open the card and reading her son's sweet message inside, her heart strings being tugged by his words and his gesture.

"And there's these too," Henry said, holding up a small box for her.

Regina took it from his open palm with a smile and lifted the lid, gasping at the handcrafted earrings within.

"Henry," she breathed, lifting one of them to light and observing the beautiful patterned glass bead hanging off the metal hook.

"I love you, Mom," he told her, wrapping both arms around her middle. "Happy Mother's Day," he said again.

* * *

After taking him to see Regina, Graham drove Henry back to Snow and James' apartment and entered with him. In his arms, he carried Henry's gift for his grandmother, since it was much too big and heavy for the young boy.

"Grandma?" Henry called out.

Snow leaned over the banister at the top of the stairs. "Hi Henry, Graham," she replied, smiling at her grandson and almost-son-in-law. "I'll be down in a second – just let me get these towels into the airing cupboard."

"Where do you want this, buddy?" Graham asked Henry, lifting the present in his arms slightly.

"Set it on the table?" Henry suggested.

Graham nodded and carefully laid the paper-wrapped present on the table, careful not to knock the vase of flower's Emma had snuck into the apartment that morning.

"I'm just going to go check on Grace," Graham told Henry, heading up the stairs to his and Emma's room.

"She's been an Angel," Snow told him as they passed. "Haven't heard a peep out of her all morning."

Graham nodded and pushed open the door quietly, not wanting to disturb his daughter's slumber.

"Hey baby-girl," he murmured, approaching the cot and stroking their ten month old's soft cheek. Already she looked like Emma, small, bright blonde curls covering her scalp. He could have sworn she also had the chin that Emma and Henry had both seemed to inherit from Snow. As his darling girl stretched and woke up, he saw the one thing she seemed to have inherited from him, her beautiful eyes. Quietly gurgling, Grace lifted her arms to her father, demanding to be brought close and dandled in his arms. Unable to ever refuse his darling girl a thing, Graham lifted her out the cot and secured her to his hip and kissed her soft curls, his scruff of beard probably tickling her. "Ready to give Mommy her last present later?"

* * *

"Happy Mother's Day, Grandma," Henry said as Snow came down the stairs. "Here's your present."

"Henry, you shouldn't have," Snow smiled, squeezing his shoulder.

Henry just beamed back and asked, "Aren't you going to open it?"

Snow chuckled and carefully untied the strings keeping the paper around her present. It was so bulky; she could barely guess what it was and just hoped that Henry hadn't spent a lot of money. Her breath caught as she pulled aside the paper, revealing a large, framed version of the photo Graham had taken of her, James, Emma, Henry and Grace all cuddled together on the sofa at Christmas.

"Henry, you sweet boy," she smiled. "Where shall we hang it?"

* * *

When Emma came home, she slid the plate bearing Henry's cake onto the table where he was sat enjoying some of Snow's mac and cheese, ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek.

"Where's Graham?"

"Upstairs with Grace," Henry answered, setting down his fork and taking a sip of water before digging back into his dinner with gusto.

"Back in a sec," Emma told him, depositing her jacket over the back of one of the chairs before climbing the stairs. She found Graham sat on the end of their bed, leaning back every few seconds and holding Grace in the air so she was flying. The sight brought a grin to her face and a laugh from her lips.

"She looks like she's having fun," Emma said.

"She's not the only one," Graham replied, bringing their daughter back down to his chest. Whilst Emma busied herself changing out of her work clothes, unclipping her badge and gun and placing them safely in the lockable draw beside the bed, Graham worked the ring free from his pocket and put it into one of Grace's small hands, keeping a close eye on her to make sure she didn't lose it or swallow it.

Once she was done, Emma bent down, bring her face level to Grace's where she sat on Graham's lap. "Mommy missed you," she told her, taking hold of both of her small hands, frowning slightly as she felt something inside one of them.

"Graham?" Emma asked, holding up the ring.

"Yeah?" He was doing his best to act nonchalant.

"What's this?"

"Emma, will you marry me?"

Her heart stopped. A laugh of disbelief slipped from her lips. "Seriously, you used our daughter to propose to me?"

"Mmhm," Graham answered, completely unashamed. "So will you?"

"Yes," she answered. "Yes, I'll marry you, Graham."

He grinned and stood, shifting their daughter onto his hip, caressed Emma's cheek with one hand and kissed her, happiness bubbling out of him.

"Happy Mother's Day, by the way," he said as soon as he could muster the ability to pull his lips from hers. He dropped his hand from her cheek, passed her Grace, knowing Emma would want to spend some time with her after being away from her all day, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked it!**


	2. Epilogue

**A/N: Snow2000 suggested that this story should have ended with everyone together and not just Emma/Graham, so I've written this little addendum. Having said that, that was months ago now so apologies for it taking me this long to get round to writing this. Hope you guys enjoy it. **

* * *

"Ready?" Graham called, adjusting his waistcoat. At the sound of the bathroom door opening, he looked up in time to see Emma step out looking drop-dead gorgeous. "Wow," he breathed, unable to form a coherent thought.

Smiling, Emma looked away to hide the emotion. It had taken much convincing on the part of her mother to get her to wear this particular dress, but after seeing Graham's face she had to concede that perhaps her mother had been right. She looked good in lace. After standing silently just outside the bathroom with Graham's eyes on her for another minute, Emma finally asked, "Shall we go then?"

The words seemed to jolt Graham out of his entranced stupor. Cracking a crooked grin, he proffered an elbow for his fiancée and walked down the stairs with her, finding Henry waiting at the bottom of them, looking adorable if slightly uncomfortable in a shirt, tie and trousers.

"All set mate?"

"Yep. Grandma and Grandpa already left."

"I'm just going to check in on Grace-"

"-Emma, Nova's here, she'll be fine-."

"-and say goodbye," Emma said, as if Graham hadn't interrupted her. He trailed after her as she ducked into the living room where Nova sat on the sofa with a magazine and her daughter was lying on the floor on her back staring up at a collection of rattling toys until she caught sight of her mother and stretched her arms up towards her. "Hey, baby girl," Emma cooed, picking the girl up and bouncing her on her hip.

Nova looked up. "Emma, you look great! More than fit for a ball and with no help from a fairy godmother!"

"Thanks," she replied, shooting the fairy a brief smile before turning her attention back to her daughter. "I'll see you later. You be a good girl and behave for Nova, okay?" Grace gurgled, giving Emma a toothless smile and giggling when she pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"She'll be fine," Nova promised.

"Thanks for stepping in Nova," Graham said, running a hand down his daughter's back. "It's nice to finally be able to celebrate."

"Yeah, you guys deserve it. Now go on, get going."

Emma pressed one last kiss to the top of Grace's head, breathing in her scent, and handed her over to Nova.

Emma and Graham left hand in hand, Henry walking on ahead of them as they made their way to the party. There'd been parties before at Granny's Diner, but none as glamorous as the engagement party Snow and James were throwing in their honour. The second Emma and Graham entered the door, the dwarves were throwing confetti over them and Red was pushing a glass of wine each into their hands.

"Congratulations!" was the overwhelming shout of what had to be the entire town crowded into the diner.

Laughing happily, Emma and Graham accepted every hug, arms seeming to be haphazardly thrown around them as soon as someone else had released them. Eventually, it was just Snow and James left waiting patiently. As James clapped his future son-in-law on the shoulder, Graham found himself thinking about the awkward moment he had had to ask permission for his daughter's hand in marriage.

"_Hey Graham," James nodded, briefly looking up from his newspaper as the door to the station opened. "I thought Emma was scheduled to be in this morning."_

"_Grace was a bit colicky this morning, so we switched." Graham was dead-beat tired from working the night shift, but staying home with a colicky infant would not have allowed him any sleep anyway. Their daughter only seemed to be able to be comforted by Emma, so she'd reluctantly accepted the switch of shifts._

"_Well, if either of you need any help, you know Snow and I are only too willing-"_

_Graham cut off the former king with a nod. Snow had been cooing to Grace, trying to keep her smiling whilst Emma grabbed a quick shower, when he left the house. Both of Grace's grandparents were constant presences in her life, always picking her up for cuddles, offering to watch her in the evenings so Emma and Graham could enjoy themselves. Feeling his stomach grumbling after spending all night awake on call in the station, Graham slung his leather satchel over his shoulder and onto the desk, searching for the lunchbox Snow had pushed insistently into his hands after hearing he was heading back out to work, having on just been in the apartment for ten minutes. _

_He tore into the granola bar with gusto, simultaneously reaching back into his bag for the canteen of precious coffee he'd picked up on the way from Granny's. If he was to make it through the day, he was going to need something to perk up his slow moving mind and body._

"_Rumplestiltskin just called. Someone broke into the shop."_

"_Again?" Graham sighed. It seemed that someone was breaking into the pawnbroker's shop every week. "How does he even have anyone's stuff left?" He muttered the last question to himself. Since the curse broke, Gold's Pawnbrokers had been a hive of activity, most of the town folk frequenting the place to haggle for their former possessions. And when the imp refused to give back his stock, some of the braver people had returned with crowbars when the shop was deserted. _

_James nodded, looking just as put out over the news as Graham, and threw down his paper. "I can deal with it. It's probably nothing serious."_

"_Thanks," Graham replied, crumpling the granola bar wrapper in his hand and lobbing it halfway across the room to the bin. Before James had left, he had bitten into the pear Snow had packed and made himself comfortable by kicking back in the chair and resting his boots on the desktop, praying that the phone wouldn't ring with a disturbance of the peace. _

_When James returned to the shop, carefully bearing a box marked fragile, he found Graham snoring quietly. _

_At the sound of the door shutting, Graham jerked awake into bleary-eyed confusion. James smirked, watching the Huntsman's eyes clear as comprehension dawned on him. _

"_Back already?" he yawned, checking his watch and frowning as he saw that it had gone lunchtime. "Oh. What took you so long?"_

_James smothered a laugh and cleared his throat before replying. "I got stuck in the middle of an argument between Rumplestiltskin and Belle."_

"_Oh?" Graham remembered Belle from days when they'd both been imprisoned in the Castle by the Evil Queen. Oftentimes he'd been one of the guards to bring her food and water. _

"_Yeah, she was trying to convince him to just give back everything that was in the shop."_

"_I take it she wasn't successful."_

"_She was actually. It's part of the reason why I've got this," James murmured, lifting the box in his hands ever so slightly. _

"_Perhaps I should see if he has my bow…"_

"_Actually," James said quietly, "I thought maybe you and Emma should take this." As if it was the most fragile thing in the world, James passed the cardboard box to Graham and stood bouncing on the balls of his feet whilst waiting for the Huntsman to open it._

_Graham stared at the unicorn mobile within. "Didn't you and Snow have this made for-"_

"_-Emma, yes we did." _

_Graham heard the pain and grief behind those few words and abruptly closed the box again. "Thank you." He knew how precious the mobile was to Snow and James. Deciding that since they were alone, he might as well ask, Graham spoke again. "I've wanted to ask for a few months now, but there never seemed to be a right time and Emma's not here now so I thought it was as good a time as any to get your permission." He took a breath. "I'm in love with your daughter, and I know we've kind of done things in the wrong order, we've had a child first, but with your permission and blessing, I'd like to take her hand in marriage."_

_The words were a little bit garbled, but James still understood. And he smiled._

Graham still recalled his shock as seeing his future father-in-law's mouth curve upwards into a smile rather than down into a frown. He still remembered the falter of his heart.

LINE BREAK

Emma welcomed the embrace of her mother. It had taken her a long time to get to a place where she could accept a hug like that, where she wasn't even bothered that her mother had great, fat tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks. She choked on a laugh, feeling her own eyes well up with the way Snow's arms tightened around her, just as they had that night Graham had proposed.

"_Seriously, you used our daughter to propose to me?"_

"_Mmhm," Graham answered, completely unashamed. "So will you?"_

"_Yes," she answered, feeling laughter bubbling out of her. "Yes, I'll marry you, Graham."_

_He grinned and stood, shifting Grace onto his hip and caressing Emma's cheek with one hand whilst he kissed her. _

"_Happy Mother's Day, by the way," he said as soon as he could muster the ability to pull his lips from hers. He dropped his hand from her cheek, passed her Grace, knowing Emma would want to spend some time with her after being away from her all day, and wrapped an arm around her waist. _

_Barely a moment passed before Snow and James came barrelling through the doorway, Henry squeezing in between them._

"_Well?" Snow demanded, looking between Graham and her daughter._

"_She said yes!" Graham exclaimed, unconsciously digging his fingers into her waist as he pulled her into his side tighter and beamed brightly at her._

_Henry was the first to react, throwing himself across the room until he was hugging both Emma and Graham, his head buried in Emma's midriff with Graham ruffling his hair. Snow let out a delighted squeal – which she continued to deny doing for the rest of that week – and put a hand over her mouth as her eyes shone with happiness. It didn't take her long to rush over and give a congratulatory hug to both of them, pausing afterwards to see the ring on Emma's finger._

_James couldn't speak. His voice was laden down with emotion that clouded his eyes. His grip was tight as he embraced his daughter, just managing to whisper an, "I love you," into her hair before letting her go and turning to Graham, shaking his hand and hoping that his eyes accurately conveyed the message, "You take care of them. You take care of my baby and grandchildren."_

Emma dried her eyes on the back of her hand, taking care not to smudge her mascara.

"You look beautiful tonight," Snow told her, rubbing one hand up and down Emma's right shoulder. "We are so proud of you, your father and I."

Emma smiled softly again.

"I hope I'm not too late," Regina murmured as she squeezed through the door, Emma and Graham not having moved far from it before they were assailed by the townspeople.

"Mom, you're finally here," Henry called, his voice loud in the quiet that followed Regina's entrance, rushing over from where he had been sat at the bar, eating all the chocolate cake everyone else seemed to have forgotten about when Emma and Graham arrived.

"Henry, you've got chocolate all over your face," Regina scolded, pulling out a tissue and wiping her son's face, the boy in question struggling for all he was worth to get away.

Emma smirked as she watched Henry twist his head this way and that but still didn't manage to evade the tissue.

"Thanks for coming, Regina," Emma said, taking Graham's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze. He still wasn't keen on the woman, but he knew that he had to get over that since she would always be in Henry's life, just as he now would. Besides, as Emma frequently reminded him, she'd apologised and she was trying to change. Perhaps one day, it wouldn't be quite so awkward when Regina entered the room.

Brushing aside the atmosphere, James picked up a glass of wine and called out, "A toast! To Emma and Graham!"

"To Emma and Graham!" the townspeople called back, before everyone drank.

* * *

**A/N: So I decided to end it there. I'd written the few scenes in my head that I'd wanted to explore: Graham asking James to let him marry Emma, Snow and James finding out, and a general celebration with everyone together. I hope you guys enjoyed this little addition to the short story. Thanks for reading!**


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